A method and apparatus are described establishing multimedia communications on a shared communications channel. A first and a second communication unit, such as a master and slave unit, establish a synchronous communications link. Additional synchronous communications links may be established. A first data packet associated with the synchronous communication link is communicated to the second communication unit by including an address. time slots reserved for the synchronous channel by the first unit are separated by a fixed time interval. One or more additional communications units may communicate over an asynchronous link established between the master and additional units using remaining time slots. data packets may be communicated to additional units by including addresses associated with each additional units The synchronous link may be interrupted with the asynchronous link by communicating an asynchronous data packet on a time slot reserved for the synchronous communications link. The asynchronous link may be a time-Division duplex link for alternately transmitting and receiving on different ones of the remaining time slots. asynchronous data packets communicated to additional units on remaining time slots. The master unit may poll each additional units for a response packet to the asynchronous data packet. On a time-Division duplex link, additional units alternately receive the poll from the first communication unit and transmit the response packet on different ones of the remaining time slots.
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1. A method for establishing a link on a shared communications channel divided into a plurality of time slots, the method comprising the steps of:
establishing a synchronous communications link between a first and second communication unit;
communicating a first data packet on a first one of a set of time slots associated with the synchronous communication link from the first communication unit to the second communication unit by including an address associated with the second communication unit in the first data packet;
establishing an asynchronous communications link between the first communication unit and one or more additional communication units including the second communication unit using one or more remaining ones of the plurality of time slots; and
communicating a second data packet on a first of the one or more of the remaining time slots associated with the asynchronous communications link from the first communication unit to the second communication unit by including another address associated with the second communication unit.
13. A communication system for establishing multimedia communications on a shared communications channel comprising:
a first communication unit; and
one or more additional communication units including a second communication unit coupled to the first communication unit by the shared communications channel, wherein the first unit:
establishes a synchronous communications link with the second communication unit, said synchronous link having a set of time slots associated therewith;
communicates a first data packet on a first of the set of time slots associated with the synchronous communication link to the second communication unit by including an address associated with the second communication unit in the data packet;
establishes an asynchronous communications link between the first communication unit and the one or more additional communication units using one or more remaining ones of the plurality of time slots; and
communicates a second data packet on a first of the one or more of the remaining time slots associated with the asynchronous communications link from the first communication unit to the one or more additional communication units by including one or more addresses associated with each of the one or more additional communication units.
23. A master communication unit in a communication system having a shared communications channel divided into a plurality of timeslots, the master communication unit comprising:
a transceiver for transmitting and receiving data packets over said shared communication channel; and
a processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor reserves one or more sets of the plurality of timeslots to establish one or more synchronous communications links thereupon;
establishes one or more asynchronous communications links on the remaining ones of the plurality of timeslots; and
causes said transceiver to use one or more destination addresses when transmitting data packets over said communications channel on said one or more synchronous communications links and said one or more asynchronous communications links,
wherein the processor causes said transceiver to include within the data packets an address associated with a slave communication unit when communicating with the slave communication unit on one of said one or more synchronous communications links, and causes said transceiver to include within the data packets another address associated with the slave communication unit when communicating with the slave communication unit on one of said one or more synchronous communications links.
2. The method of
reserving a set of the plurality of time slots for use by the synchronous communications link;
separating each one of the time slots associated with the set by a fixed time interval.
3. The method of
4. The method of
5. The method of
communicating the second data packet on one or more additional ones of the remaining one or more time slots from the first communication unit to the one or more additional units; and
polling each of the one or more additional units for a response packet to the second data packet.
6. The method of
7. The method of
establishing a second synchronous communications link between a first and third communication unit; and
communicating a second data packet on a first one of a set of time slots associated with the second synchronous communication link from the first communication unit to the third communication unit by including an address associated with the third communication unit in the second data packet.
8. The method of
9. The method of
10. The method of
11. The method of
12. The method of
14. The communication system of
reserves the set of the plurality of time slots for use by the synchronous communications link; and
separates each one of the time slots associated with the set by a fixed time Interval.
15. The communication system of
16. The communication system of
17. The communication system of
communicates the second data packet on one or more additional ones of the remaining one or more time slots from the first communication unit to the one or more additional units; and
polls each of the one or more additional units for a response packet to the second data packet.
18. The communication system of
19. The communication system of
wherein the first communication unit:
establishes a second synchronous communications link with the third communication unit, said second synchronous link having a set of time slots associated therewith; and
communicates a first data packet on a first of the set of time slots associated with the synchronous communication link to the second communication unit by including an address associated with the second communication unit in the data packet.
20. The communication system of
21. The communication system of
22. The communication system of
24. The master communication unit of
interrupts the one or more synchronous communication links by causing the transceiver to transmit one or more asynchronous data packets to one or more destinations specified by one or more of the one or more destination addresses.
25. The master communication unit of
26. The master communication unit of
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This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/109,692, filed Nov. 24, 1998.
The present invention relates to communication systems. In particular the present invention is related to communication systems which use time-slot based protocols and which support both asynchronous data services and synchronous and/or isochronous data services.
The term “Multimedia” generally refers to the integration of data, voice and video services which share common platforms and data channels. Service providers (SPs) around the world continue to develop more advanced systems for delivering a wide array of services on a common channel including Internet data services, telephone services, and television services to a subscriber base. For obvious economic reasons, SPs prefer that all services they provide be carried by a common medium, such medium being, for example, television cable, telephone cable, or air interface in the case of wireless systems. Particularly with new global standards emerging within the wireless communications community that provide for the allocation of physical resources between circuit switched services and, for example, General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) as outlined in “Digital Cellular Telecommunications System (Phase 2+); General Packet Radio Services (GPRS); Overall Description of the GPRS Radio Interface; Stage 2 (GSM 03.64 version 6.0.1 Release 1997” ETSI TS 101 350 V6.0.1 (1998–08), for example, at chapter 6, the need to integrate both types of services on a physical resource or common channel is great.
Problems arise however with the integration and provision of services on the same medium since data associated with different services, such as voice, video, and non-real time (NRT) data transfer, have different characteristics and requirements. Data associated with NRT data transfer, for example, is typically communicated in bursts, and requires a high degree of integrity, leading to bit error probability requirements in the realm of 10−12 to 10−14. Variable delay associated with the communication of NRT data however is generally well tolerated. In sharp contrast, live voice and live video data or voice and video on-line playback data, for example, have real-time requirements and may be characterized by constant data streams which, if interrupted or delayed may have severe quality degrading consequences. Individual bit errors in the data stream however may be tolerated but may lead to distortion or minor degradation.
Human beings may normally tolerate certain levels of distortion in an audio or video or combined audiovisual presentation before the distortion causes continued listening or viewing to become annoying or tiresome. In some cases the threshold for distortion tolerance is high, at least for short intervals, with the important factor most likely being the ability to continue to discern information content. Clicks, pops, noise, distortion and related audio anomalies may make audio communication less pleasant and “snow” or other visual anomalies in a video stream may make a video presentation less appealing, but, in most cases of distortion due to bit errors in the data stream of audio and video, the information content is generally preserved. However, since audio and video data streams may be tightly synchronized in time, e.g. relatively highly correlated, particularly with regard to combined audio and video streams, variable delay associated with incoming data packets is not permitted, since delay would cause, for example, talker and listener to become out of synch with each other in a conversation, words to be unintelligible, and the like. Variable delay introduced in a voice stream would be noticeable to the listener since it affects the timing and shape of the acoustical waveform. Likewise, delay introduced in a video stream would cause, for example, variations or interruptions in the speed of motion of the video stream, and, worse for example, a loss of frame synchronization in the receiver. In these cases, information content is seriously compromised.
To avoid delay related anomalies, synchronous services such as voice and video may typically be carried in a communications system over circuit-switched connections. Circuit switched connections may be established in a time-slot environment by reserving a portion of the communication medium exclusively for a particular link between a source and destination. Circuit switching is attractive for links which are constantly in use but may be inefficient for asynchronous data traffic typically transferred in bursts without regard to delay. Asynchronous communications conducted on a circuit switched connection may result in an unnecessarily idle channel during intervals when no data is being transferred, and consequently channel capacity and ultimately system capacity is wasted. This condition may be illustrated by example with reference to a user of Internet services, who during the interval, for example, when waiting for a request to be processed, is receiving no data, or during the interval when data has been delivered and displayed and a user is reviewing the information, is receiving no data. Therefore, data of this kind, (e.g., asynchronous data) is typically carried over packet-switched connections.
It is important to note that in prior art circuit switching, once a circuit is set up for circuit switched communications, it is presumed that all subsequent data packets on the circuit switched connection are destined for the party at the other end of the connection. Thus, in prior art circuit switched connections, addresses are not used.
In the packet switched environment, one or more channels of the medium may be shared among a large number of packet users in a more efficient manner. A packet data source such as an Internet server, for example, may seize the medium or a portion of it when it becomes available and may use it for relatively short duration of time sufficient to send its packet or packets whereupon the medium is released. Other packet data sources may wait until the medium is idle to seize the medium and send their packets. Due to the bursty nature of traffic associated with packet data, packet switching is much more effective and leads to greater efficiency of use of the communications medium.
Packet switching in communications systems may further provide an overall communications channel capacity gain due to the advantages provided by statistical multiplexing. Statistical multiplexing allows existing logical packet-switched channels to seize any free slot space. Packets of different logical channels are concatenated on the same slotted physical channel driven by availability and capacity need. Systems using statistical multiplexing may employ a buffer memory which may temporarily store packet data during periods of peak traffic. Statistical multiplexing minimizes channel waste due to inactive channels. For more information related to statistical multiplexing, see “Data Communications, Computer Networks and Open Systems”, Halsall & Fred, Addison Wesley, p160–161, 1995. Non-real time data transfer typically involves the transmission of files, documents, drawings, photo's, still video and other text- or picture-based material Recently, downloading webpages over the Internet has become an important NRT traffic service. NRT data has no strict delivery requirements. The transmission of a file can take seconds or minutes depending on the file size and data speed. Variations in the delivery time are unimportant. In addition, the file can be sent in chunks (or packets), and the delivery of each chunk can be handled separately. The only requirement at the recipient is that finally all chunks have arrived, and that there is means in the recipient to place the chunks in the proper order to reconstruct the original file.
As previously described, integrating synchronous real-time data and asynchronous packet data services on the same medium gives rise to a problem: circuit switching is inefficient for asynchronous packet data services; and packet switching is detrimental for synchronous real-time data services, which cannot tolerate delay.
It would therefore be appreciated in the art for a method and apparatus for combining the delivery of synchronous and asynchronous data on the same medium at the same time such that the medium may continue to support packet-switched connections and circuit-switched connections concurrently.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a communication system having a communications channel which is capable of supplying both synchronous and asynchronous data within a communications system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a communications channel in a TDMA, CDMA, FDMA, and related wireless communications systems.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the foregoing and other objects are achieved in a method and apparatus involving a communication system where multimedia communications may be established on a shared communications channel using a first and second communication unit, such as a master and slave unit. The master communication unit, for example, may be configured to establish a synchronous communications link with the second, or slave, communication unit, communicating a first data packet on first time slot of a first set of time slots associated with the synchronous communication link to the second communication unit by including the address associated with the second communication unit in the data packet. Moreover, additional synchronous links may be established by reserving addition “sets” of time slots. The terms “sets” herein refers to all of the timeslots associated with a group of timeslots which appear at regular intervals conventionally referred to collectively as a “timeslot”. The term timeslot herein refers to a single instance of a slot within the set.
In establishing the synchronous link, the master communication unit may reserve a set of time slots for use by the synchronous link. To effect time division on what is, for example in a cellular system, an otherwise unrestricted channel, the master communications unit may separate each one of the time slots associated with the set by a fixed time interval.
It may be desirable to add one or more additional communications units including the second communications unit to the communication system and accordingly an asynchronous communications link may be established between the master or first communications unit and the one or more additional communications units using one or more of the remaining time slots. Data packets may be communicated on a first of the one or more of the remaining time slots associated with the asynchronous communications link from the first communication unit to the one or more additional communication units by including one or more addresses associated with each of the one or more additional communications units.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the first communication unit may be further configured to interrupt the synchronous communications link with the asynchronous communications link by communicating an asynchronous data packet on a time slot reserved for the synchronous communications link. Further, the asynchronous link may be a Time-Division duplex link where, for example, the master communication unit alternately transmits and receives on different ones of the remaining time slots. Asynchronous data packets may further be communicated from the first communication unit to additional units on remaining time slots. On the Time-Division duplex link, for example, the master or first communication unit may poll each of the one or more additional units for a response packet to the asynchronous data packet. Accordingly, the additional units alternately receive the poll from the first communication unit and transmit the response packet on different ones of the remaining time slots.
The objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings in which:
The various features of the invention will now be described with respect to the figures, in which like parts are identified with the same reference characters.
The present invention provides a flexible communication channel in the context of a wireless communication system using time slots separated by intervals of fixed length. It should be noted that in an embodiment of the present invention, data associated with each time slot, in accordance with the present invention, may be sent using a different frequency. An exemplary system in which such an embodiment could be implemented may be found in a technology known as “Bluetooth” for providing low-cost, robust, efficient, high capacity, ad hoc voice and data connectivity (see, “Bluetooth, the Universal Radio Interface for Ad Hoc wireless connectivity”, J. C. Haartsen, Ericsson Review, Telecommunications Technology Journal, No. 3, 1998.)
With reference to the present invention, communications channel 100 carrying synchronous and asynchronous data services may be divided into time slots of equal length in accordance with the present invention as illustrated in
Many digital wired and wireless communication systems make use of a slot-based protocol over a physical interface whether it be a fiber optic, wire, air interface, and the like. Accordingly, communications channel 100 may be divided into fixed-length time slots, such as time slot 110 as described; and in time slot 110, data packet 120 may be transmitted as either a part of a synchronous data stream or an asynchronous data packet. In the case of a voice or video data stream on a synchronous channel, data packet 120 may represent one of a stream of data packets and may include voice or video information to be transferred which may first be digitized and then loaded into packets according to, for example, a particular link layer protocol which specifies the packet size, and the like which packets may then be individually transmitted over communications channel 100 in a corresponding time slot 110. In the case of an asynchronous data transfer, a stored data record, for example, a record from an Internet server may be transferred in bursts, depending on traffic, block size, etc until the record is completely transmitted. It is important to note that in accordance with most packet protocols, asynchronous packet data has a much lower tolerance for errors based on the type of data transferred. Thus depending on the error correction, and data acknowledgment protocols certain packets may require retransmission suggesting first that the acknowledge process requires additional time and that packets which are re-transmitted may be out of sequence. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that out of sequence reception of packets associated with a synchronous real time data stream would be highly disruptive if not fatal to the information content of the stream. However if data associated with a non real time data stream is transferred asynchronously to be played back in a real time mode off line, such data may be transferred on an asynchronous link as described.
As described, data packet 120 may be associated with a synchronous data stream like that associated, for example, with a voice connection. Data may be transmitted continuously throughout the duration of the connection even during silent intervals. Therefore, the capacity of communications channel 100 is usually much larger than what is required for the synchronous connection. Accordingly, only a certain number of time slots 110 need be used to sustain a synchronous link on communications channel 100. Referring now to
The reservation of a particular one of time slots 110 for establishing a link for synchronous information can be accomplished in different ways. In case of a communication system with decentralized control, the reservation of a time slot 110 may be accomplished by agreement of all units on communication link 100 involved. In a more conventional manner not illustrated, units wanting to establish a synchronous link, for example, may broadcast the reservation to all participants on communications channel 100. In the exemplary decentralized case, reservations are established on a first come first served basis and each unit knows exactly which time slot is reserved for the synchronous link. Accordingly, since new units accessing communication channel 100 will not know of previously existing slot reservations, a problem may arise. Based on the reservation of, for example, one or more time slots 110 for one or more synchronous links, units on communications channel 100 may be cognizant of which of time slots 110 are left for other services such as asynchronous packet data links. In a conventional reservation based system, data packets sent on the synchronous links need not carry an address or identity of the recipient since, for example, time slots 110 are exclusively allocated to the recipient. However, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, centralized control is used. Master 250 may be a unit connected to communications channel 100 over, for example, link portion 100a, while all other participants such as slave A 210 are designated as slaves.
Master 250 controls the traffic over communications channel 100 by, for example, scheduling transmission on the synchronous links established over one of time slots 110 separated by fixed interval T 230 as described. In the case of centralized control, packet address A 251a–A 254a may be required to be included when sent from master 250, since otherwise, in the absence of a reservation system where all participants know which of time slots 110 are allocated, a recipient such as slave A 210 cannot associate a particular time slot 110 with a particular slave. Centralized control may be advantageous in that master 250 need only agree with a single slave, such as slave A 210 about which time slot 110 the synchronous link will be established upon. Moreover, general agreement between participants on communication channel 100 is not needed and no broadcasting is required. If address A 251a–A 254a in packets 251–254, for example, do not match the address of slave A 250, slave A 250 is not interested whether packets 251–254 concern a synchronous connection or an asynchronous connection. It will be appreciated that in addition to the foregoing advantages, the synchronous link established on communications channel 100 between master 250 and slave A 210 may be interrupted at any time by sending an asynchronous data packet with address of slave A in the time slot intended for the synchronous link. Master 250 may further interrupt communications with any slave to communicate with any other slave unit. Such an interrupt capability may provide for enhanced services, or may allow asynchronous communications to occur as a “background” process between master 250 and slave A 210 over the established synchronous link or to any other slave on communications channel 100.
As previously described, asynchronous data, for example Internet data traffic may have a bursty character. On time slots 110 not used for establishing synchronous links, asynchronous links may be set up on communications channel 100 for the exchange of asynchronous data. For a more conventional communication system using decentralized control not shown, some kind of listen-before-talk (e.g. collision avoidance) must be used to avoid multiple units seizing communication channel 100 simultaneously. In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, centralized control may be used with master 250 assuring that no collisions take place. Such centralized control may be accomplished, for example, using a Time-Division duplex scheme where master 250 alternatively transmits and receives. A more thorough description of the use of master and slave units in a communication system using centralized control may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/210,594 by J. C. Haartsen et al, entitled “CENTRAL MULTIPLE ACCESS CONTROL FOR FREQUENCY HOPPING RADIO NETWORKS”, filed Dec. 15, 1998 and incorporated herein by reference.
It is important to note that additional circuit-switched connections may be established in the manner described, as illustrated in
It should be noted that with reference to “addresses”, in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, packets used on the synchronous and asynchronous links may all have the same appearance, an example of which is shown in
In the exemplary packet switched embodiment illustrated in
In addition to supporting multiple asynchronous links, master 250 may establish, for example, a synchronous link and an asynchronous link on communications channel 100 as illustrated in
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in
Accordingly, both packet and circuit switched links may be established on communications channel 100 even between the same units, for example, master 250 and slave A 210 as described. In a multimedia communications environment, such an advantage is apparent in facilitating, for example, real time voice and packet data communications on the same channel between the same devices where typically only one type of connection (e.g. circuit switched or packet switched) would be supported. Other advantages will become apparent to one skilled in the art using the teachings of the present invention, for example, no extra bandwidth for emergency break in is required.
The invention has been described with reference to a particular embodiment. However, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that it is possible to embody the invention in specific forms other than those of the preferred embodiment described above. This may be done without departing from the spirit of the invention. The preferred embodiment is merely illustrative and should not be considered restrictive in any way. The scope of the invention is given by the appended claims, rather than the preceding description, and all variations and equivalents which fall within the range of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.
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